CURIOUS RESIDENT writes:
Your article, “Signs Apparently Have Little Effect” (Express, July 5) about trucks becoming jammed beneath the Elgin Road railway bridge, refers.
That bridge must have been constructed many years ago to accommodate the railway service operating on those tracks. Does anyone know when that bridge was constructed?
And, more to the point, does anyone know if the bridge is either periodically inspected for damage caused to it by these trucks? There are many visible dents in the steelwork. I am sure that when the bridge was constructed, the manufacturers of the materials used and the constructors would have had no idea that their handiwork would continually be put to such test.
Also read:
• WATCH: How to turn a truck into a ‘Value’ concertina
I know of at least one motorist who, when there is slow-moving peak hour traffic on Elgin Road, headed towards Pretoria Road, will not move forward towards the roundabout until his exit is clear so that he does not find himself stationary beneath the bridge for fear that one day (probably with him and his vehicle beneath it) the structure finally gives way.
The new, more comprehensive signage along Elgin Road, Soutpansberg Drive and elsewhere in the vicinity is very good (well done, council, or whoever arranged that). However, also sometimes a problem is not a vehicle getting stuck beneath the bridge, but a vehicle approaching it along Elgin Road in that portion between Olienhout Avenue and the bridge.
When the driver discovers it is too high, he basically has nowhere to turn around. He may end up doing a nine- or eleven-point turn around the small central traffic island and that’s if motorists are considerate enough to leave him sufficient space to do so.
I recently saw a truck carrying two shipping containers, which had passed the petrol station, and the driver’s only option was to try the foregoing, but motorists entering Elgin Road from Pretoria Road were too selfish and self-centred to stop and allow the driver to carry out this manoeuvre.
